CORPSAFRICA

CorpsAfrica gives bright, ambitious African men and women the opportunity to serve in their own countries or other African countries to facilitate small-scale, high-impact projects that are identified by local people, along the lines of the Peace Corps model.

342 Volunteers have successfully completed service; 172 Volunteers are currently serving in Morocco, Senegal, Malawi, Rwanda, Ghana, and Kenya in the 2022-2023 cohort. Initially, a large investment from a state-owned Moroccan company helped us expand to Senegal and Malawi. More recently, a second major backer is significantly enlarging capacity and growth through a five-year partnership—allowing the organization to add five more countries, including Ghana and Kenya, in 2022 and Nigeria, Uganda, and Ethiopia in 2023, and two more countries in 2024. From a one-person start-up in 2011, CorpsAfrica has evolved into a multinational organization with programs in six countries, a 50+ person staff. We have a strong followership base of over 7,000 individuals seeking to participate in the organization in various capacities – as applicants to the Volunteer program, friends of the organization, and partners. The demand for the CorpsAfrica model is clearly established. We are still perfecting the model and figuring out best practices before we will be ready to scale up across Africa.

Many factors have contributed to CorpsAfrica's success.
- First and foremost – the Volunteers are truly spectacular young people, eager to be a part of the solution for their country and show the world what they can do.
- Morocco was a terrific country from which to start CorpsAfrica. It's politically stable with a long history of the Peace Corps, and the people are warm and welcoming. The communities treated our Volunteers as if they were their own – and they worked together to identify and implement projects that address their top-priority needs.
- With Group 2, we tested utilization of the Design Thinking, which is a problem-solving technique that brings a structure to the facilitation process. The Volunteers loved it and we were able to raise money to hire a Design Thinking Consultant (RPCV-Liberia) to plan the curriculum and oversee the process. He is currently training a former Volunteer to become the Design Thinking trainer in Morocco.
- The US Peace Corps has been an exceptional partner from the very beginning. They provide advice and support as well as resources and on-the-ground collaboration. We had a Peace Corps Response Volunteer in Morocco for Group 2, to provide support to the Volunteers in the field. When she ended her service, we hired two former CorpsAfrica Volunteers as “Volunteer Support Specialists."

CorpsAfrica has successfully recruited and supported 514 Volunteers to serve in Morocco, Senegal, Malawi, Rwanda, Ghana, and Kenya in the 2022-2023 cohort; 342 Volunteers have successfully completed service. Initially, a large investment from a state-owned Moroccan company helped us expand to Senegal and Malawi. More recently, a second major backer is significantly enlarging capacity and growth through a five-year partnership—allowing the organization to add five more countries, including Ghana and Kenya, in 2022 and Nigeria, Uganda, and Ethiopia in 2023 and two more countries in 2024. From a one-person start-up in 2011, CorpsAfrica has evolved into a multinational organization with programs in six countries, a 50+ person staff. We have a strong followership base of over 7,000 individuals seeking to participate in the organization in various capacities – as applicants to the Volunteer program, friends of the organization, and partners. The demand for the CorpsAfrica model is clearly established.

Some highlights:
* More than 130 strategic, financial, technical, and institutional Development Partners
* On average, each Volunteer impacts 500 community members, trains around 40 people using Human-Centered Design and Asset-based Community Development, and creates 50 local work opportunities during their service
*99% of host communities request another Volunteer
* 88% of alumni have transitioned into work or entrepreneurship, and 30% have received, or are pursuing, graduate degrees.